Some of the accusations against Pope Francis are not complaints about his decisions on doctrine and discipline, but rather claims about his mind and heart, about his intentions and plans for the Church.

Archbishop Carlo Vigano has accused Pope Francis of interior sins against the Faith. The title of the article, written by Vigano, is: “Archbishop Viganò: Bergoglio’s intention is to harm souls, discredit the Church, and offend God”. And here is what Vigano writes:

Vigano: “Opening the doors a little more” is in fact Bergoglio’s strategy. Anyone who claims that these unprecedented declarations are the result of improvisation and that they have no repercussions on the ecclesial body is either mistaken or in bad faith. They started long ago – in this case as early as December 7, 2014 – and demonstrate methodical planning, malicious intent, and a stubborn desire to harm souls, discredit the Church, and offend the majesty of God. [Vigano article ]

Usually a person is accused of sins against religion based on words and deeds. But Pope Francis is being accused, by many different persons, of interior evil intentions and plans. Vigano claims to know the intent, desire, and hidden plans of Pope Francis (whom he calls Bergoglio). These claims about the interior alleged sins of Pope Francis are, one would assume, conclusions drawn from the evaluation of exterior words and deeds. And certainly this type of interpretation is uncharitable. Pope Francis has many supporters who will explain the faithfulness and reasonableness of his decisions, so the conclusion of Vigano and others, that the Pope intends to harm souls and discredit the Church and even offend God is not necessarily implied by anything the Pope has said or done.

But the question here is: Whether any Roman Pontiff is ever permitted, by the prevenient grace of God, to commit such interior acts, to intend or plan to harm the faithful, to destroy or badly alter the true Faith or the true Church, or to offend God?

Someone might opine that God may permit a Pope to have such interior intentions against the Faith, but would prevent the fruition of the evil plans of any Pope. “Still, this will be a great violence, and not in keeping with the providence of God that sweetly disposes all things” [as Bellarmine has said on a different point]. In addition, the mystical unity of Christ and the Roman Pontiff weighs against such interior acts by a Pope against the Faith and the Church. Pope Pius XII: “Christ and His Vicar constitute one only head” of the one Church [Mystical Body of Christ 40].

Finally, the charism of truth and never-failing faith given to every Pope should be understood in accord with the generosity, faithfulness, and mercy of Christ. The design and purpose of the gift of never-failing faith is to safeguard the truths of the Faith and the indefectibility of the Ark of Salvation. Christ must have done this with the papal charisms to the fullest extent, due to His overflowing love for all souls and His willingness to sacrifice himself for our salvation. But the intention to harm the Faith, to pervert its truth, to harm souls, or to harm the Church (the Ark of Salvation for all souls) would be a grave failing of faith and therefore is gravely contrary to charism of truth and never-failing faith. Since this charism is directly incompatible with these types of interior gravely objective sins, the prevenient grace of God does not permit such sins in any Roman Pontiff.

And it does not matter if a particular Pope were, hypothetically, not culpable to the extent of actual mortal sin for such intentions, due to ignorance or other factors; these types of interior sins are objectively grave and objectively contrary to a never-failing faith. Therefore, the charism of truth and never-failing faith keeps every Roman Pontiff from intentions and plans contrary to the truths of the Faith and the indefectibility of the Church.

Neither is this contrary to free will. Every Roman Pontiff freely accepts his office; this is one of the conditions for validity. And every Roman Pontiff can freely resign from office. Then all of us are subject to prevenient grace, which is God operating, not cooperating. There is no possibility for any of us to reject or refuse prevenient grace, from the greatest Saint to the worst sinner and everyone in-between. God has given us free will, but He has also established its limits. We can refuse to cooperate with subsequent graces, but we cannot refuse prevenient grace. Therefore, the charism of truth and never-failing faith given to every Pope always accomplishes its purposes, whether the Pope is the holiest or the least holy of all the successors of Peter.

So then, the accusations of Vigano and many others, claiming that Pope Francis has interior malice toward the true Faith and the true Church, are necessarily false accusations and are contrary to the perennial teaching of the Church on the charism of truth and never-failing faith.

Ronald L Conte Jr